Skip to content
Menu
Drone piloting, mapping, lidar, photography and videography in Chicagoland
Professional Drone Operations

Aerial data and imagery, delivered like engineering.

Mapping, LiDAR, inspection, and cinematic aerial photo and video for construction, utilities and infrastructure, local government, property managers, insurance, and video production companies throughout Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and western Indiana.

1,000+
Commercial flights flown
20,000+
Acres surveyed
1.6 days
Average post-mission turnaround
$5M
Drone-services liability coverage • additional insured available
Part 107
FAA-certified commercial operations
Why clients come back

Exceeding Expectations with Every Mission.

We aren’t satisfied until you are. We aim to exceed your expectations with our professionalism, safety, speed, and the quality of the delivered product. One crew plans the flight, flies it, and processes the data in house, so the person who scoped your job is accountable for what lands in your inbox. We love repeat clients, and treating them right is the #1 way to ensure success.

We operate as an extension of your project team: on site to a defined specification, on the interval you set, with the data in hand before the next meeting.

1,000+ commercial flights • 20,000+ acres

What we fly

Three service lines. One standard.

Construction, Utility, & Mapping

From 2D and 3D mapping, volume analysis, and LiDAR scanning to utility corridor, pole, and substation inspection and regular aerial project status photos and video.

  • Survey-grade orthomosaics and topographic maps
  • LiDAR point clouds and bare-earth models
  • Stockpile and cut-and-fill volumes
  • Utility corridor, pole, and substation inspection

Construction Drone Services →

CAD- and GIS-ready files delivered directly to your team; optional client portal.

Photography & Cinematography

Your story comes to life with stunning aerial photos and video footage, making any property or scene pop.

  • Up to 5.4K video, 24–60 fps, 10-bit color
  • RAW stills
  • Full production or aerial unit only

Aerial Photography & Videography →

Cinematographers first, pilots second.

Commercial Real Estate & Property Management

Showcase commercial properties, business parks, and new developments with the location, access, and surroundings that tenants, buyers, and investors weigh.

  • 20MP stills with optional HDR (up to 100MP available)
  • Location, access, and parking context
  • Development progress and leasing imagery
  • Cinematic and FPV fly-through video

Real Estate Drone Photography and Videography →

Commercial properties, portfolios, and developments.

Featured service

Construction progress monitoring, flown the same way every time.

Same flight plan, same altitude, same specification, on the interval you set. Because every capture is flown identically, the datasets line up, and progress stops being a matter of opinion.

  1. Mass grading for a construction site
    Mass grading · Day 0

    Baseline & earthwork

    Existing conditions, cut-and-fill against design, stockpile volumes.

  2. Construction progress monitoring by drone - foundation pour
    Foundations · Day 60

    Foundations & utilities

    Footings and slab verified, trenches documented before backfill.

  3. Construction progress monitoring by drone, capturing the steel erection
    Steel erection · Day 120

    Structure & sitework

    Steel and deck progress, stone base, laydown as actually built.

Planned versus actual, in a browser

Owners, lenders, and tenants see measured progress without another site visit, and your team keeps a date-stamped record that settles change orders and pay-app questions.

Construction Drone Services

Services

Pick the data. We’ll fly the mission.

Applications

Where the data goes to work.

Survey-grade resolution and accuracy, ready to hand off for verification by engineering team and licensed surveyers
Survey-grade orthomosaic
Orthomosaic mapping

One flight. A scaled site your whole team can measure.

A georeferenced orthomosaic turns thousands of photos into one accurate, scaled image of the whole site. Measure distances and areas, check layout against plans, and share a current picture with everyone who can’t be on site. Files go straight to your team in the formats your CAD and GIS software reads, with optional browser viewing in our client portal.

  • GeoTIFF and CAD-ready exports
  • Captured with RTK/PPK positioning
  • Delivered within 48 hours of capture, often 24

Drone mapping & survey

Licensed and insured drone pilots ready to fly your next mission
FAA Part 107
Certified · insured · ready

Ready To Fly Pilot with enterprise aircraft at a jobsite, PPE visible

Our team of pilots are FAA Part 107-certified, insured, and trained to fly after dusk and before dawn, for those epic sunrises and sunsets or for jobsites that can only be flown off-hours. All footage is shot in 4K or higher resolution, up to 5.4K at 24 to 60 fps, for sharper images and the ability to crop in with minimal loss. Need it fast? Raw footage can be handed over the same day in most cases.

  • Night and civil-twilight operations under Part 107
  • Airspace authorizations handled for you
  • $5M drone-services coverage, additional insured available

About UAV Chicago

How an engagement runs

Four steps. One accountable crew.

  1. Scope & interval

    Site review, airspace check, and a written capture specification on an agreed schedule.

  2. Field capture

    One mobilization, one crew — the same flight plan and altitude every visit.

  3. In-house processing

    Nothing outsourced. Photogrammetry, point clouds, volumes, and period-over-period comparisons.

  4. Delivery

    CAD-ready files delivered digitally or physically per spec, plus optional browser viewing in our client portal.

Why UAV Chicago

Complex industrial UAS. Not just aerial photography.

Capture

  • Industry-leading enterprise aerial platforms and sensors
  • LiDAR data acquisition
  • RTK/PPK positioning workflows
  • Ground-control workflows

Processing

  • High-resolution photogrammetry
  • Orthomosaic and 3D reconstruction
  • Volumetric and earthwork analysis
  • In-house data processing

Delivery & safety

  • Direct CAD/GIS-ready file delivery
  • Optional browser-based client portal
  • OSHA-oriented practices, full PPE
  • $5M liability, additional insured

UAV Chicago at a glance

Service area
Illinois, southern Wisconsin, western Indiana, and eastern Iowa
Licensing
FAA Part 107 certified remote pilots
Insurance
$1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate business liability; $5M drone-services coverage; additional insured available
Turnaround
Standard delivery within 48 hours of capture, often 24; 1.6 business days average post-mission
Processing
In-house — Nothing outsourced; your data remains private
Delivery
Files to your spec, digitally or on physical media; optional browser portal
Contact
(630) 635-6015 • hello@uavchicago.com

Questions we hear first

Where does UAV Chicago fly?

We’re based in Chicagoland and fly throughout Illinois, southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, and western Indiana. Longer trips are quoted with travel; most of our work is within a few hours of Chicago.

Are your drone pilots licensed and insured?

Yes. Every pilot holds an FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate and is named on our insurance. We carry $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate business liability and $5M drone-services coverage, and we can name you as additional insured.

How fast do you deliver?

Standard delivery is within 48 hours of capture and often within 24. Across mapping projects our average is 1.6 business days post-mission. Delivery dates are written into every scope.

What file formats do I get?

Whatever your team works in: GeoTIFF orthomosaics, LAS/LAZ point clouds, DEM/DSM surfaces, contours and linework for CAD and GIS, 3D meshes, and edited photo and video. Files are delivered digitally or on physical media, with optional browser access through our client portal.

Can you fly at night, sunrise, or sunset?

Yes. Our pilots are trained and current for night operations under Part 107, so we can fly civil twilight for sunrise and sunset imagery or off-hours capture on active sites.

How is a drone project priced?

By scope: site size or corridor length, deliverables, accuracy requirement, and how often we fly. Send the address and what you need and we’ll reply with a written scope and price, usually within 1 business day.

Reach us

Reach Us

Call, email, or send the site address and what you need. We typically respond within 1 business day (or as soon as we land) with a written scope and price.